Burt Lancaster is one of the great American actors and had a brilliant career starring in Film Noirs, dramas, Westerns and comedy. He had great range as an actor. Perhaps his greatest ‘range’ was in the 1954 Western film Apache where he plays an Apache Indian! The film was based on the novel Broncho Apache by Paul Wellman. The film was directed by one of the great American directors in our cinematic history Robert Aldrich.
Apache is the story of Massai, an Apache Warrior (Lancaster) who is being held captive and on his way to a Florida reservation to settle with the rest of his tribe. Apache Chief Geronimo (Monte Blue, Key Largo, Spawn of the North) had surrendered to the U.S Cavalry, but Massai refuses to give in and be defeated. He escapes captivity, looking to return to his homeland where he can be a farmer. Along the way, he falls in love for a gorgeous Apache woman (Jean Peters, Pickup on South Street). The U.S. Cavalry is hot on his trail, but Massai is able stay one step ahead. Eventually they do catch up with him and despite the odds, he is determined to fight them all with his life and his pride on the line.
Apache is a terrific film loaded with fantastic action, chase and fighting sequences. What contributes to the greatness of this film is that is contains plenty of shots of the beautiful landscape by cinematographer Ernest Laszlo. The film is worth watching for the cinematography alone.
Among the cast members for this film are Charles Bronson (as Charles Buchinsky) in an early role, and science-fiction B movie regular Morris Ankrum.
Apache was formerly released on DVD by Shout Factory, who recently lost the rights to the film and was quickly picked-up by Kino Lorber for a Blu-ray offering. The film has been finally given a much needed and often requested release in the Blu-ray format. Presented on a dual-layered disc, the video quality for Apache easily surpasses the DVD with much bolder and richer colors. Reds are especially strong here. The landscape looks marvelous with great depth and rich textures. Skin tones look accurate throughout. I did not notice any print damages such as speckles, and if they are there, it would be minimal. No DNR appears to have been applied.
Kino uses a DTS-HD Master 2.0 audio track for which tends to be their standard choice. Dialog, gunshots, music and other noises are crisp and did not detect any drop-offs or hissing. English subtitles are available.
Trailers for Apache, The Devil’s Disciple Valdez is Coming, Ulzana’s Raid, Attack, The Killer of Sister Georg, Ten Seconds to Hell and The Crimson Gang consists of the only supplement.
Fans of Burt Lancaster and Robert Aldrich should pick this one up, as it is easily has improved audio and video quality. The movie itself is outstanding. Do not let the lack of extras deter you from getting this release!
Apache
Director- Robert Aldrich
Cast- Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date- 12/6/20